It is known to dispense hand care products from a dispenser mounted to a wall, counter or dispenser stand. Dispensers may be conveniently located in building entrances, bathrooms, or lunchrooms providing convenient accessibility to passersby. Such dispensers may have a replaceable reservoir, also called a refill unit, containing hand soap, lotion or sanitizer. Replaceable reservoirs provide a sanitary solution to the problem found in refillable dispensers, which is that over time germ-laden bio-films form inside the fluid container and dispenser nozzle.
Replaceable reservoirs are often installed into dispensers in an inverted manner, which takes advantage of gravity to draw fluid out of the container. The reservoirs are connected to a pump, which pressurizes the fluid and meters out a predetermined amount of product. In many systems, the reservoirs are sealed from exposure to the atmosphere. As such, air cannot displace the fluid being pumped out of the reservoir thereby creating a vacuum inside the container. This makes it harder to draw fluid out of the reservoir and as such additional energy is needed to operate the pump. In systems using an onboard power supply this shortens the useful life of the power supply.
To overcome this problem, some reservoirs are constructed using thin gauge material. Thin-walled reservoirs are prone to collapse under atmospheric pressure as fluid is removed from the container. While the problem associated with vacuum pressure is somewhat alleviated, the thin gauge walls are susceptible to damage. Moreover, it is hard to read how much fluid is remaining in the refill reservoir because thin walls collapse unevenly and unpredictably.
Some systems vent ambient air directly into the refill reservoir to displace fluid dispensed from the system. While this relieves the vacuum pressure, it adds to the likelihood that germs, bacteria or other pathogens will be introduced into the system.
It would therefore be advantageous to use a rigid bottle that has side walls utilizing heavier gauge material if there was a way to vent the bottle without introducing contaminants into the replaceable reservoir. The embodiments of the current invention obviate the aforementioned problems.